Craig Pecora opened the meeting by stating that in the interest of time, we were going to suspend the regular meeting format. He was going to make a few important announcements and move on to the fun part.Craig thanked the members in attendance for participating in this meeting.Craig gave a special thanks to HALS for letting us use their facilities for our September meeting. A special thanks was also given to Bill Courtright from HALS. He was the coordinator for Hals for this meeting . He thanked the Hals volunteers for coming out to provide train rides for our members. They provided train rides before and after lunch. How much fun was that!

Financial Report:

We had the usual expenses for Storage and insurance for the month of August. The only extra expense we had was for the Bridgewerks power supply. That amount was $738.18.

Newsletter:

Chuck Blumentritt is finalizing the newsletter and it should be available shortly. Chuck still needs articles and other information to be included in the newsletters. If anyone has any ideas for the newsletter, please contact Chuck

Tomball Set Up:

We may have an opportunity to display our layout at the Tomball Railroad Museum on Saturday, November 10th. Jim Mitchell (our show coordinator) will take charge of this event. Craig Pecora will be his assistant coordinator. Jim and Craig are going to meet with the people from Tomball and the Tomball Railroad Museum in the coming week to work out the details. More information on this event will be sent to the members as soon as the plans are finalized. If this works out for us, we will need plenty of volunteers. This will be the first time we will be displaying our layout at that museum. You only get one chance to make a good first impression.

Fall Fun Fest

Craig reminded the members that Fall Fun Fest will be held at the Rosenberg Railroad Museum on Saturday, September 22nd. The theme this year will be “May The Steam Be With You”. As a special treat, there will be some of the members of HALS at the event to run their “live” steam engines. The museum will need some volunteers from HAGG to help with this event. You will hear more from Greg and Brenda Cauthen as plans are made.

October Meeting:

The HAGG October meeting will be held at the home of Dan & Elpa Droogleever on Sunday, October 14th. An agenda will be sent out to the members as we get closer to that date.

Texas City:

The Texas city train show will be held on Saturday, October 27th. This will be a one day show. Again, we will need plenty of volunteers to help with the set up and run trains. Jim Mitchell has been working out the details with Texas City. All is looking good.

Petroleum Club:

Chuck Blumentritt has already been in contact with the Petroleum Club about the Christmas display they set up in the lobby of their building for the holidays. They once again need our help. We receive a healthy donation from them for assisting in the set up and tear down of their display. We can put that money to good use. I know it is early, but you might want to let Chuck know what days you can make it and what days you cannot make it to help him in setting up a schedule.

Raffle:

A raffle was held at this year’s September meeting. Craig brought two decks of playing cards with him. One deck had a red backing and one deck had a blue backing. He asked all HAGG members to pick a card from the red deck and hold onto it. After everyone had their card he asked if by chance anyone drew the Joker. Colleen Spencer did in fact draw the Joker. She won a certificate good for a one year family membership in the Houston Area G Gaugers. She can use it for her family or pass it on to a family member or friend who might be interested in joining our club. Craig then proceeded to draw a card from the top of the blue deck. The member who had the matching red card would be the winner. The first card drawn (the 10 of diamonds) produced a winner. Terry Farghum held the matching red card. He won a Hartland Mack Engine with a work caboose. He was all smiles. Congratulations to the winners!

Last but not least:

I want to thank the ladies of HAGG who helped organize and set up the lunch table at the Bar-B-Q. As always, A job well done.